Month: December 2022

The Japanese word ‘tsundoku’, beloved by book nerds, refers to the pile of unread books next to your bed or by the sofa, which rises steadily with each new optimistic purchase. There must be an equivalent for the mental stack of TV and film titles we each carry around inside our heads, made longer with

The end of the year is the traditional time to take stock, tally up and remember the highlights of what has been, at times, a very strange old run of it. It also happens to be the point of the year when a lot of us manage to down tools for a little bit and

MAJOR SPOILERS! This is for viewers who have already streamed all episodes of Without Sin on ITVX Full of twists, turns, and Vicky McClure’s seemingly endless wardrobe of excellent knitwear, ITVX’s exclusive new drama Without Sin is a triumph. From its first moments, this thriller left us with questions, and they only multiplied as the

Technically speaking, 2022 was a rough year for the television industry. The previously unshakeable Netflix posted intimidating earnings losses, leading some observers to question whether the streaming bubble had burst. Meanwhile the newly-formed Warner Bros. Discovery hit choppy waters with its own streaming situation, making a mess of HBO Max in the process. And let’s

This isn’t about favorites. Favorites are flimsy and can be overdone, like a song or a sandwich filling you tire of after choosing it one too many times. This is about rightness. Of all the Doctors in the TARDIS, of all the Bonds in the Aston Martin, of all the Batmen in the Batsuit, there’s

This article contains spoilers for The Witcher: Blood Origin and The Witcher While The Witcher: Blood Origin did what it set out to do – show what caused the Conjunction of the Spheres – this four episode miniseries ultimately left us with more questions than answers. Between Jaskier’s (Joey Batey) involvement in the Elves’ fight,

Warning: contains finale spoilers for His Dark Materials season 3.  In the closing moments of Bad Wolf’s majestic adaptation of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, a caption on screen tells us what lies ahead for Lyra and Will. After freeing the ghosts from the Land of the Dead and returning healing Dust to the ailing multiverse, the teenagers

This article contains spoilers for The Witcher: Blood Origin. Set 1200 years before the events of The Witcher, The Witcher: Blood Origin tells the story of the Conjunction of the Spheres and how the Continent was changed forever. This four episode miniseries follows a band of warriors on their quest across the Continent as they

Warning: Contains spoilers for the Ghosts Christmas special Be warned: the opening scene of the Ghosts Christmas special might leave you slightly perturbed, wondering where all the Christmas is at, as there’s nary a whiff of festive cheer – just some scouts practising archery (without killing anyone this time) in the grounds of Button House

Not only did the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special delight MCU fans but it brought back the slightly foggy memory of the original inspiration: the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special, a controversial TV oddity most fans of the galaxy far, far away would sooner like to forget. Yet, curiously, while The Star Wars Holiday

Jim Henson’s Muppets mesh so well with Christmas. Crazy and chaotic as they are, the characters are just one big family. They are a collection of personalities that reflect Henson’s optimism. And what is Christmas if not a madcap holiday that promotes optimism and family? It’s no surprise that before and after Henson’s death, his

When Hawkeye debuted in the fall of 2021, all the colorful lights and Christmas trees crowding the sets were regarded as nothing more than that: decorations. The Jeremy Renner- and Hailee Steinfeld-starrer was a Marvel show that just so happened to be set during the holidays. But, in truth, Hawkeye is a Christmas story that

This article contains spoilers for Jack Ryan season 3. Through two seasons, Prime Video’s Jack Ryan has covered some well-trodden topics for CIA spy thrillers. Jack Ryan season 1 found Tom Clancy’s titular CIA analyst on the case of an Islamic extremist’s curious bank statements. Season 2 moved the action to South America, where Jack

Count Magnus, this year’s BBC Christmas ghost story special, blends the holiday spirit of reconnecting with family origins with the terror of reawakening a supernatural being that should have been left alone. Although many may associate the concept with the ghosts that haunt Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, UK TV viewers traditionally welcome the holiday

Warning: this review contains spoilers. There you have it: the perfect Inside No. 9 specimen. Macabre, comedic, cleverly plotted, with a little bit of pathos and a gruesome end that – unlike ‘The Devil of Christmas’ – punishes the right person. If this show were taught in schools, ‘The Bones of St Nicholas’ would be the exemplar

CONTAINS MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR THE TRAITORS As all reality TV connaisseurs know, some of the best drama you can find on TV is not just in police procedurals, heists or Upside Downs; it is with real people living their lives (in front of the cameras) or real people in extraordinary situations (also in front of

When it comes to the tradition of telling ghosts stories during Christmas, Charles Dickens still reigns supreme, with medieval scholar M.R. James in a very close second place. But in recent years, actor, writer, and director Mark Gatiss has quickly earned mention alongside those two by reinvigorating the United Kingdom’s heritage of holiday horror. Best

Participating in a fantasy franchise as big and beloved as HBO’s Game of Thrones inevitably means adopting a strange relationship with the public. Surely not a day goes by when Emilia Clarke isn’t questioned about the location and health of Daenerys Targaryen’s dragons. And it will be a long time before Kit Harrington stops hearing

Like Batman or Superman, Jack Ryan is a character that has seen several on-screen iterations played by a variety of actors. Unlike these superhero figures though, Jack Ryan isn’t rich and doesn’t have powers of any kind – really he’s just a regular dude. Created by prolific writer Tom Clancy, Jack Ryan is a man

Warning: contains spoilers for His Dark Materials episodes 3.5 and 3.6.  It’s unkind to revel in someone else’s failure, but what a gift that this is The Amber Spyglass adaptation we got. It’s hard to imagine New Line Cinema’s defunct film trilogy getting anywhere near so much so right.  The Mulefa, the Land of the Dead, Marisa Coulter’s transformation… all of

This article contains spoilers for season 6 of Rick and Morty. The season 6 finale of Rick and Morty “Ricktional Mortpoon’s Rickmas Mortcation” was another festive episode that saw Morty (Justin Roiland) get to live out his dreams of being a Jedi for a brief moment before his functional lightsaber threatens the planet and almost

Blowtorch to the head, electrocution, deadly tarantulas, flying paint cans – that Kevin McAllister really put those burglars through it in the Home Alone films. When you look back, it’s a wonder they were kids’ films at all. Generations of children watched those poor Wet Bandits get slowly, painfully tortured in their quest to nick

This Yellowstone review contains spoilers. Yellowstone Season 5 Episode 7 Throughout this season, Yellowstone co-creator Taylor Sheridan has been preparing his audience for the end. The end of the purple mountains majesty of states like Montana, as they become overdeveloped and lose all their character. The end of the cowboy way of life and ranches

An overwhelmingly vast number of psychic claims should be taken with a healthy dose of salt, and Call Me Miss Cleo aims to be sodium-free. HBO Max’s original documentary does, however, throw a little bit of corn syrup into the mix. It promises viewers an in-depth study on a complicated con game, Psychic Readers Network

If you watched David Tennant’s captivating portrayal of Alexander Litvinenko as he lay dying and thought ‘You know what this needs? More arias’, then guess what? You’re in luck. The bold, furious, highly effective ITVX drama Litvinenko might have left you wondering where you can find out more about what happened, or where else you

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no, it’s Henry Cavill’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it return to the DC Extended Universe as Superman. Despite James Gunn confirming he and DC Studios co-president Peter Safran have completed their master plan to turn the struggling DCEU around, there are casualties across the board. On top of Patty Jenkins confirming she’s no